The bird is back

Interview, Oct, 1998 by Elizabeth Weitzman

"If you make a record honestly, It is merely a snapshot of who you are while you're recording it." So spoke Sheryl Crow to friend and interviewer Elisabeth Shue in these pages seventeen months ago. At the time, Crow was in the midst of what she deemed a breakneck tour for her second release, Sheryl Crow. That album reflected her defiance and reasserted her Independence after the critical scrutiny and subsequent shock that followed the success of her first record, Tuesday Night Music Club.

Now Crow Is back with a third album, The Globe Sessions, that provides a picture of what she felt like when she finally pulled off the road - and perhaps a glimpse of what she wants to be now. Like the last one, the record is self-produced, which may be why the effect is so deeply personal. This time around, the music is less ragged, her voice hints at a deeper maturity, and she's replaced narratives from the past with her own stories - The Globe Sessions is filled with private fears, questions, and dreams. Is this the definitive Sheryl Crow? No. The thirty-six-year-old freely admits she's still searching for the place she wants to land. But having taken a long look at where she was, she knows which direction she's headed in. And Crow will keep redefining herself as she goes.

ELIZABETH WEITZMAN: HOW would you say this album is different from the first two?

SHERYL CROW: I think it's much more emotional and intimate. It's the first time I've really written about any of my relationships, and because one had just ended it brought a lot of other experiences to the surface. I think the strongest thing that happens in a relationship is you learn more about yourself, and that's kind of what this record is about.

EW: More than half the songs on this album are about lost or painful love.

SC: Oh, that ever-present theme. [laughs] I had just toured for over four years, and there's something that happens when you walk into your house and it's not familiar to you anymore. I felt like I didn't really have a home or any connections. I had nothing in my life but music, and I just didn't want to do it anymore. That was a weird place to be in because music's always been my solace. So I think the emotions on the record stemmed from examining what's been going on in the last few years, why my relationships have been the way they've been, and just a lot of self-scrutiny, as indulgent as that might sound. I'm at a point where I'm looking for some balance.

EW: You talked about wanting a family In the last interview. Has that feeling grown stronger?

SC: I would love to have a family because I love the family I'm from and I've shared all my greatest experiences in life with them. I think it's human nature to want to have your own family.

EW: How much would you be willing to sacrifice?

SC: For so long I had a burning drive to go out and play every day, six nights a week without taking any breaks. Now I'm starting to divide up what's important and exercise some self-preservation with all of it. So whether I have children or whether I'm in a relationship, I think I'll probably be slowing down because my priorities are changing.

EW: How are your priorities different from when you started recording?

SC: When I first became successful I got caught up with giving everything a lot of meaning - and that's dangerous. If you read a magazine and something negative is written about you, you can't make that the be-all and end-all; you have to remember that not all people feel the same way, and that so much of it is out of your control. There are only a couple of things that I can dictate, and those are the way my albums sound, and my concerts. I no longer feel the need to be at every awards show, to be in every magazine, to do every interview. But when you're getting started you have a strange sort of panicked feeling: If I don't do this will people even know I've made a record? The whole fame thing simply doesn't hold as much weight with me now. It's just a coat of paint that gets chipped away at.

EW: It's impossible to be famous without havIng people try to take you down.

SC: Mm-hmm. I've gone through a plethora of emotions about that. With my first record we toured for so long before finally becoming what looked like an overnight success. Then the backlash started. The climate changed from me being very popular to people being sick of me, and I took it all very personally because I thought, God, you know, I'm a nice girl and I work really hard and how can they say such mean things? But it's the nature of the beast because we've given such importance to fame that it's become a feeding frenzy: The more people learn about celebrities the more they need to know. It's like a strange drug.

EW: You're a solo artist, so you have no one to split the pressures of fame with. Do you often feel alone as a performer - or as a person?

SC: Oh, I think everybody on the planet feels alone, even when they're in their greatest relationships or surrounded by family. In fact, in many ways, when you're with someone you care about you feel more alone than if you were by yourself. I think the confusion of being somebody who's in the public eye is making sure you're not leading anyone astray. I don't want to fake my way through anything, and there's a lot of exposure that goes with trying to be real in what looks like a pretty unrealistic environment.